David Knight produced a solid ride on the 450 Suzuki to finish runner-up in the Skegness Beach Race on Sunday.

Todd Kellett’s overnight trip back from the Red Bull Knock Out event in the Netherlands proved a fruitful one as he added the Skegness title to the Weston one a fortnight earlier.

He and Knight agreed that Sunday’s event was tougher than Weston as it was on a shorter, quicker course and the sand was a lot softer.

’It was hard work in the deep sand, even the main straight was tough,’ said David yesterday.

’The course was shorter, just over four minutes per lap, but it was a good event.

’Todd and I joked that we both hoped that our bikes would break down in the closing stages as we were that knackered, but the 450 Suzuki didn’t miss a beat, it was spot on.’

He and Kellett were the only riders to complete 40 laps in the allotted three hours. Knighter easing off on the final lap when aware that he was not going to catch the Husqvarna man. At the close, Kellett was 3min 10sec in front.

’It’s a good job I did take it easy on that final lap as there was no more than an egg cup of petrol left in the tank at the finish,’ he added.

Kellett set the fastest lap in 4m 06s at an average speed of 65.81 km/h (precisely 40mph), the opposite to Weston when Knight actually set the quickest lap of the entire race on his final lap.

David’s nephew, Tom Knight, 16, was a more than satisfactory 32nd of the 130 or so finishers on the ageing SuGas hybrid.

Kane Hall performed well in Saturday’s quad bike race to finish fifth on a total of 21 laps, four down on the winner.

Matt Thorpe was 10th on 20 and Aaron Curphey 35th on 17, but Alex McHugh was a non-finisher.

l Jamie McCanney contested the Red Bull Knock Outevent at Scheveningen in the Netherlands on Saturday.

The beach race also formed the final round of the new World Enduro Super Series, which is a rival to the FIM Maxxis Word Enduro Championship, which the McCanney brothers concentrated on.

Nathan Watson won on the KTM and Kellett was fifth, one place in front of Yamaha-mounted McCanney in a field containing no fewer than 750 starters.

etchells goes dutch

Jed Etchells was also in Holland over the weekend, contesting the final round of the national enduro championship.

The St Mark’s rider finished fifth overall on Friday, but was on top form the following day with some very impressive test times. He pulled eight seconds out of the field on the opening test and continued to lead until the last lap when an oil leak with his Sherco meant he had to nurse the bike home, dropping quite a few seconds and ultimately costing him the win.

Jed is indebted to Mick Seward/MPS Racing for the support received in his first full season of international enduros, along with everyone else who has assisted him.